ISLAND

Chapter 3


Sara drove to the address Ms. Cameron had given her in her return e-mail. To her surprise, Sara found that it was a private home, not an office building. An extremely nice house, by Sara's standards. That part wasn't surprising.

A little more disconcerting was being admitted to the house by a male butler. Don't see that very often, she told herself.

James, the butler, led Sara to a room that was, indeed, an office, where Steffi Bloom Cameron invited her in with a smile. Ms. Cameron lifted a thermos. "Coffee?"

Sara shook her head. "No thank you." She generally found that responses not requiring thinking never gave her trouble.

A small girl suddenly ran into the room. "We're going to the park, Mommy!"

A young woman in t-shirt and jeans, with a pretty silvery chain-link slave collar, trailed behind the girl, looking out of breath. "Sorry, ma'am. She gets harder to keep up with every day."

Ms. Cameron gave a short laugh. "Tell me about it. Just please have her back by dinnertime, Tammy." She gave the little girl a quick kiss and shooed her away to follow Tammy. She grinned at Sara. "My daughter Linda. Linnie."

Sara noticed a framed photograph on the desk, showing Linda in a chair -- Sara already sensed that it was probably rare to see Linda sitting still anywhere -- with a huge grin, carefully holding a baby in her lap. "You have another d... d... daughter?"

Ms. Cameron saw what Sara was looking at, and nodded, smiling. "My baby. Megan Runner Cameron." Sara blinked at the odd middle name. Probably a family name, she decided, as Ms. Cameron went on, "She's ten months now. She'll be walking in another couple of months, and then Tammy will really have her work cut out. We're thinking we might need to buy a second nanny."

Sara's gaze wandered to a larger framed photograph of a young woman, about twenty years old, hung on the wall. She was going to ask if this was yet another daughter, but Ms. Cameron didn't look nearly old enough.

Ms. Cameron saw Sara studying the picture, and turned to look. "My stepdaughter. Amy. She was a Hanging Girl."

Sara smiled and nodded, then her eyebrows shot upward. "The Amy k... k... Cameron?"

Ms. Cameron's smile widened. "The Foundation is named for her, yes. And we've kept the name in the family. Linnie's full name is Linda Amy Cameron."

Sara nodded and sat back. Even though Amy hadn't been Ms. Cameron's natural daughter, it was obvious that Ms. Cameron had loved her very dearly. Sara could hear it in her voice when she talked about her.

Sara saw Ms. Cameron's expression turn cautious. "Now, you said you had something you wanted to propose. This isn't about somehow getting back into the internship program, is it? I'm really sorry that we can't give the experience to everyone who applied, but there is only so much space. We have to establish a cutoff."

Sara shook her head vigorously. "It's not th... th... that. But it is about P... P... P... Purity Island." She could sense her mouth starting to get vague, and closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and reminded herself to slow down.

Ms. Cameron looked puzzled. "Go ahead."

"I w... w... want to ask if I k... k..." She decided to switch from Could to Would. "...would be able to go on the t... t... trip, but n... n... n... not as an intern. I w... w... want to go as food. For the r... r... restaurant. I want to be r... r... roasted there."

Ms. Cameron blinked. "Not a request I was expecting. You understand, we get all our girlmeat on the island itself, by barter. There's no shortage."

"Yes, ma'am..."

"Steffi." A smile.

Sara nodded. "Ss... Ss... Steffi. B... B... B... But I think I can add something."

Steffi looked at her for a moment. "I'm intrigued, at least. Go ahead."

"Steffi... The island m... m... m... men need to know we are j... j... just like their women. Our meat t... t... tastes the same. This could r... r... r... reduce their d... d... distrust of outsiders a little. Also it k... k... could expose the ss... ss... services of the restaurant to m... m... m... more people, because they w... w... would all be curious, and you can advertise my roast as an end of ss... ss... ss... summer celebration, just before you k... k... close the restaurant for the year. Your b... b... brochure says the islanders sh... sh... sh... should see things in us th... th... th... they are used to, so we don't offend them, b... b... b... but just a little different, so their thoughts start g... g... getting tugged in just a l... l... l... little different direction. My body is p... p... probably a lot like their slaves h... h... h... who have done heavy labor for years..." Sara had worn a sleeveless blouse and short skirt, and without shifting position she flexed her arm and leg muscles at this point to demonstrate her point. "... but my sk... sk... skin is lighter, b... b... because their slaves have spent all their l... l... lives outdoors. So they would be k... k... curious about that too, w... w... w... wondering if that makes it t... t... t... taste different." She knew the roasting of women for the restaurant was done in plain sight, and that customers would see her body before they ate her. She paused now for breath, and reminded herself again: slow, slow. "I think if they eat me it w... w... will establish a k... k... connection between our cultures."

Steffi broke into a grin. "You did think up some reasons, didn't you?"

Sara grinned back, feeling positive vibes coming from Steffi. "Yes m... m... Steffi."

Steffi sat back, obviously thinking, tapping a finger on the desk, looking at Sara. Sara knew it was time to let the idea simmer.

"End of summer, did you say? That makes sense, but you know you'd need to spend the entire three months there. We wouldn't make a special trip just for you."

Sara nodded eagerly. Exactly what she was hoping for.

Steffi gave Sara a small nod, and Sara's heart leapt. "I'm going to want to discuss this with our advisory board, in case they think of some dangers to the program that aren't obvious right off. But I'm going to propose to them that we do it. Let me write down those points you made." Steffi pulled a notepad towards her and picked up a pen.

Sara leaned forward, excited that she was so close now. "I just have w... w... one request. I g... g... guess really it's two."

Steffi looked at her expectantly.

"I'd want my f... f... father and my sister to have a p... p... piece of my meat. It doesn't have to be big."

Steffi smiled. "I think it goes without saying we'd save some of you for your family."

"And the other thing is the..." She got completely blocked for a moment on the word "interns," and decided to get to it in more roundabout fashion. The fact that she had arrived at the whole point of the plan didn't help with the tension. Her mouth was getting badly confused. "...other girls. The interns. I already know some of them, and after th... th... three months together we'll all probably get k... k... close. Can they..." Stuck on "have." Switch to "eat." "...eat some of me too?"

"This is sort of in the nature of a dying request?"

Sara felt the blood pounding in her veins. She was there, she was there! She simply nodded, unable even to attempt speech for the moment.

Steffi smiled again. "I can't see how we can turn that down. Normally there is plenty of meat leftover from any one girl that it feeds the staff as well, though I think you're right about the larger crowd for you. But I can make sure it's known that you're also to be shared with the interns."

A tear escaped Sara's eye. Part of her would end up in Cherise! Aside from the pleasure of having three more months to spend near Cherise, this was it, this was the ultimate goal: Sara, as she wanted more desperately than ever, would end up inside the woman she loved! She tried to say thank you, but was unable for an unusual reason -- her throat had tightened up too much to attempt speech, which wasn't the normal problem. She simply nodded again, tears now streaming down her cheeks. She supposed Steffi thought her happiness was for the acceptance of the plan as a whole. In a sense it was, but the last bit was a culmination of everything she could ever have wanted.

Steffi stood up behind her desk and offered Sara her hand. "I do like the idea, Sara, and I'm glad you came by. I'm going to e-mail the board now to get a discussion started. I think I can let you know our decision in two days."

Sara stood, her knees shaking, and took the offered hand. She found her throat had loosened to the point of being able to get a word or two out. "Th... Th... Thank you so much, Steffi. If you need me on a ss... ss... ss... special diet, I'll do it. Anything you n... n... need me to do is okay."

Steffi nodded. "I'll leave that up to the chef."



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